Page 123 of Keep Me Never
I’ve just swung one leg over the seat when Deaton looks up with a frown, making me freeze in place.
“Uh, Uncle Chaser, you have to sit over there with my dad,” he tells me, but there’s a little unsure pinch to his brows and helooks to Paige. “Right, Paige?” he asks her, with big puppy-dog eyes. “It’s just-me-and-you time?”
Paige opens her mouth, looking to me and back, and I wait for her to save the day, too, but honestly, I wouldn’t even mind walking away right now after what he said and the way he said it.
His and her time. He loves her too.
Somehow I want to stay even more while equally wanting to go and give them this.
“It is our special time,” she confirms, brushing Deaton’s little curls from his forehead. “But what if we let Uncle Chaser decorate just one cookie? You can be the boss and tell him if it’s good enough to go on the tray for your grandma and grandpa’s big Thanksgiving party.”
I know she’s got him before he even speaks, his eyes lighting up, head tilting. “I get to be the cookie judge?”
Paige nods sharply. “Oh yeah. The head judge.”
“Yay!” His hands shoot into the air, and he climbs to his feet on the bench. Paige shoots her hands out to steady him. “Guys! Come on! Come make justonecookie and I get to be your judge!”
The others chuckle, not really understanding but getting up and coming over regardless.
I sit down, reaching across the table to fold my hand in Paige’s.
She looks up, her smile soft as the others file around us, and Deaton tells them what they are and are not allowed to do, including which cookie each person is in charge of.
And we all sit there, letting the little three-year-old boss us around.
Not one of us would have it any other way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Chase
It’s the Friday after Thanksgiving and the stadium is packed. Even for an away game, there’s a lot of blue and gold lighting up the stands. It’s easy to know why.
This one matters more than the others.
Not just for pride, not that I’ve got any of that left, but because somehow, someway, we got ourselves into a tough spot—not from an overwhelming number of AU losses but because our division is the best out there and the competition was stiff.
Tonight determines it all. If we win, we clinch our spot in the playoffs, and I might just gain myself another chance.
We lose, and this is it. This game, right here, might very well be the last I play because scouted or not, there is never a guarantee when it comes to draft day.
I just wish my girl were here, if only so I could look up at her when I need to feel grounded, like right now, with the athletic trainer leaning over me, taping up my wrist and fingers into something that resembles a cast, my pinkie to middle finger all wrapped together and sticking straight out. Thankfully we had a bye last week that meant I got to rest up, so this game will be my first on the field since I walked off it the night the scouts came to see me.
I’ve been a little off my game at practice these last few weeks, but not enough that anyone else has noticed.
Even if she can’t be here, I’m happy to know Paige is in myhometown with the rest of the girls, keeping my dad company and getting to know all our parents better. When Mason first suggested to Payton that she and the others should go, take the baby home for the holiday to visit his grandparents, she flat out refused. She said four days was too long to be away, and I had to agree. But it made no sense for them to stay behind on campus when we wouldn’t be there anyway, and that was the exact point that won her over. They left Wednesday after she got off work and they won’t be back until Sunday afternoon.
As for us, we spent most of Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, on a bus, and our game tonight is a late one. We’ll be playing primetime at 7:00 p.m., under the bright lights of our opponents’ stadium, and the family back home will get to watch the broadcast live.
I was able to talk to her earlier this afternoon, though, and there’s nothing quite like listening to her soft, sweet voice wishing me luck. Yet somehow my day was made even better when my dad’s smiling face popped up over her shoulder. It was a damn good thing to see, considering the way he looked when he left a couple weeks ago.
If I can’t be with her and I can’t be with him for the holiday, I’m glad they can be with each other. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even suggest it. She called me herself, wondering if it would be all right if she asked to stay with him instead of in Cam’s parents’ spare room, and to make it even better, she invited her grandfather to join them.
I can only hope it’s a sign of years to come and what our holidays might look like.
As a family for real.
A grin tugs at my mouth and something lands in my lap.
